Ben Affleck has at least three ancestors who owned slaves including a wealthy landowner who bought a young boy who he appears to have set to work in his tanning business.

The Batman star's distant family can be traced to Connecticut and in 1728 they paid 80 pounds for a slave called Tobe who they kept until he was grown up.

The bill of sale refers to Tobe as a 'negro boy' which the previous owner 'sold as my proper estate'.

Tobe's owner was called Nathaniel Stanley and was known as a smart man of 'respected piety and evangelical sentiments' - but that did not stop him keeping slaves.

Affleck's other slave owning ancestors were a man in Georgia and an Irish farmer from New Jersey who owned eight slaves.

None of these details were shown in the episode of Finding Your Roots which featured Affleck after host Henry Louis Gates Jr edited them out, leaked Sony emails have revealed.

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Ben Affleck has apologized after he demanded information about a slave-owning relative be withheld from a PBS show about his ancestry

Admission: How Ben Affleck finally came clean about one of his ancestors. Today's revelation about his New England ancestry raise questions over why he thought there was only one

Breaking silence: Affleck took to Facebook to issue his apology and say that he did not want 'a bad taste in my mouth' so chose to remove key facts from his family story

As it was: The town of Goshen represented in a woodcut published in 1836, which purported to show how it was around the time Affleck's ancestor, Nathaniel Stanley, lived there as a religious man and a slave owner

Historic: Goshen today. The town remains a small and affluent settlement in rural Connecticut

Remembered: The graveyard in Goshen. Affleck's ancestor Nathaniel Stanley was a substantial landowner in the settlement and also the owner of Tobe or Tobey, a black man who was his slave

PBS is now conducting an internal review to see if its own editorial guidelines were breached on the genealogy show.

But the new information raises fresh questions about Affleck's claims that the storyline about his slave-owning ancestors was not used because there were only a few details available.

It also puts pressure on PBS and Gates, a Harvard professor, because he claimed in a statement that it was left out because it was not a 'compelling narrative'.

Affleck has now apologized for asking Gates to make the changes. Gates - a respected Harvard academic - has said nothing for five days and was described by one commentator as 'diminished' by the disclosures.

The Oscar-winning actor said in a post on Facebook that the discovery of his past left him feeling 'embarrassed' and with a 'bad taste in my mouth' - but that he was wrong to censor it.

The row has been damaging for Affleck, who supports a number of liberal causes, has a charity for aid to the Congo, and is a champion of the left.

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It became public on Friday when Daily Mail Online disclosed that hacked emails from Sony revealed a conversation between Gates and Michael Lynton, the chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, over what the TV host called a 'dilemma'.

Now Daily Mail Online can reveal in full what viewers should have been told in the episode which aired last September.

In the show Affleck learns that his sixth great grandfather Jesse Stanley fought in the American Revolution and was one of just 2,000 soldiers who served under George Washington in some of the toughest times of the war.

Our investigations have revealed that Jesse's grandfather Nathaniel Stanley was in fact a slave owner.

According to Land Records in Farmington, Connecticut, Nathaniel bought a boy slave in Hartford on October 28, 1728 for £80 - the then colonial currency.

A partial transcript of the bill of sale to Nathaniel Stanley from J.S. Farnsworth reads: 'Rec'd of Nathaniel Stanley of Farmington ye Sume of Eighty Pounds. In full for a Negro Boy. Called Tobe, which Boy this Day I have sold to him as my proper Estate...'

Genealogist Elizabeth Banas, who carried out the research for Daily Mail Online, said that she believed that Nathaniel and his family relocated to Goshen, Connecticut in 1742 with a slave who is listed as Tobey, another spelling of Tobe.

She said that a slave named Tobey is also found in the records of Goshen and it is noted that his owner was a man called Ephraim Starr, who appears to have bought him from Nathaniel. It is not clear when.

Close: Ben Affleck and his former Freedom Rider mother Chris Anne, seen last October in Los Angeles

Documentary proof: This history of the Stanley family lifts the lid on Affleck's ancestry

Respected: Affleck's eighth-great grandfather was said to be 'somewhat above mediocrity'

Documented: The entry for Ephraim Starr in Goshen's records reads 'had Tobey (negro)'. It is the sole record of the indentured man's death at 76, after he was sold by Affleck's ancestors

In the document Tobey is entered as 'a negro who died 12 may 1806 at the age of 76'.

Miss Banas said: 'It's possible that Tobey was someone of intelligence who had a position of note in the house, though we cannot say for sure.

'It's unusual for a slave to be featured in the house records at all'.

Tobey would have been an old man when he died but finding out more is hard as 'history from that time is difficult', Miss Banas said.

What is clear is that Nathaniel was somebody of means and importance, records reveal.

The most complete picture of him comes from a book called 'The Stanley Families of America: as descended from John, Timothy and Thomas Stanley of Hartford, Ct' by Israel P. Warren, written in 1887.

It says that Nathaniel Stanley was born on September 23 1679 in Farmington, Connecticut, where he lived with his wife Sarah until 1742 when they moved to Goshen.

In Goshen he bought a 50 acre lot of land for £1,055 (the Colonial currency) with a barn and what the account calls a 'mansion house', which in reality was just a log cabin where he lived.

Nathaniel had a tanning license and became a large landowner; he is recorded as owning 728-and-a-half acres of land at the time.

The book says: 'He was frequently called to various offices, selectman, etc, and continued (to be) a prosperous and useful inhabitant into his old age.

'In regard to his mental ability, he was doubtless somewhat above mediocrity. His habit was to write much more than men of his day.

'The books and papers left by him and his father are at this time matters of great curiosity and interest, being highly illustrative of former men and things.

'He was a man of respected piety and evangelical sentiments'

Mrs Banas said that looking into your family history is often problematic.

She said: 'No one is immune from embarrassment when digging into the lives of family members both past and present.

'Whether we discover a slave owner, a murderer or a scoundrel, we found them, because we made the choice to find them. It is the risk we all take when we decide to research our roots.'

Lisa Johnson, the director of Stanley Whitman House, a historic house in Farmington, said that Tobe would have been bought long before the Abolitionist movement in Connecticut, which started in the 1820s.

Spotlight: The future of Prof Henry Louis Gates Jr as the host of the show is in the balance after PBS launched an investigation into whether its editorial code was breached.

What they saw: This was the document shown to viewers about Affleck's Revolutionary War relative. The show didn't mention that his grandfather was a slave owner.

She said: 'In the mid 1700s 10 per cent of the population of Farmington were captive people, so that's about 300 out of 4,000.

'That's pretty shocking to us but I think that Farmington was not unusual. That's how people made their money in small towns.

'Even people with modest jobs had a few slaves'

Miss Johnson said being a man of faith and owning slaves was not controversial at the time and the Puritans used scripture to justify slavery, which Nathaniel probably did.

She said that 80 pounds for a boy slave was a 'pretty good price' to pay at the time.

She said: 'That's typical for a young healthy male. As slaves got older they lost value. Women didn't cost as much as young men'

'It seems entirely possible that Nathaniel would have got him to work in his tanning business, or he would have helped out in the fields.

'I don't know why Tobe would have been sold. Perhaps he got injured, perhaps he was an asset and Nathaniel needed the money.

'Slaves were objects for their owners, they were commodities to be bought and sold like you or I buy and sell a house.

BEN AFFLECK'S FACEBOOK APOLOGY

After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for 'Finding Your Roots,' it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves.

I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

Skip decided what went into the show. I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use. This is the collaborative creative process. Skip agreed with me on the slave owner but made other choices I disagreed with. In the end, it's his show and I knew that going in. I'm proud to be his friend and proud to have participated.

It's important to remember that this isn't a news program. Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable. The assumption is that they will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family.

I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. While I don't like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country's history is being talked about.

Ben Affleck

'We try to look for benevolence in this relationship but it's not possible'.

Miss Johnson added: 'Ben Affleck should not be ashamed of this. This is real history. These are real people'.

The research commissioned by Daily Mail Online looked into Affleck's mother's side.

His mother, Chris Anne, had featured in the show, not because her ancestor benefited from indenture, but because she had been a Freedom Rider.

According to The Sun, Affleck had slave owners as well on the side of his father Timothy.

The newspaper said that his ancestor James McGuire was a farmer of Irish descent who kept eight slaves on his farm in Trenton, New Jersey, in the 1840s.

Genealogists said that there were lots of farmers in Affleck's family and that slavery did not end in New Jersey until 1846.

Affleck himself has named the third member of his family who was a slave owner.

He tweeted: 'Lots of people have been asking who the guy was. His name was Benjamin Cole - lived in Georgia on my Mom's side about six generations back.'

According to Gawker Cole was Affleck's third great grandfather who was wealthy, influential and the sheriff of his county in Savannah, Georgia.

A transcript of the show before it was edited says that Cole had 25 slaves and put him in the 'Southern Elite'; fewer than 10 per cent of people owned such a number of slaves.

The findings were revealed by examining the 1850 Census in Georgia.

According to the transcript, Affleck says to Gates: 'God. It gives me kind of a sagging feeling to see, uh, a biological relationship to that.

'But, you know, there it is, part of our history.'

The emails which sparked the row shows the extent to which Gates was accommodating to Affleck after they found this out.

They showed a frank conversation between Gates and Lynton, who appear to be friends; Sony was not involved in producing Finding Your Roots.

Gates writes: 'Confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors--the fact that he owned slaves.

'Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including (documentary filmmaker) Ken Burns.

'We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?'

In a revealing reply, Lynton says: 'I would take it out if no one knows' but adds that if such a move became public then 'it gets tricky'.

He also asks who knows about the request, to which Gates replies that all of his producers were aware of the situation.

Gates writes: 'To do this would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman (Affleck)

The PBS internal review is likely to determine if Gates told PBS or WNET, the member station which oversaw the production of the show, what he was doing, and who at the network knew.

PBS has claimed that it was first notified of the issue on Friday, when a reporter from Daily Mail Online contacted them.

Parallel: In Roots, LeVar Burton (left) played Kunta Kinte who was given the name Toby by the colonial owners who bought him after he was sold into slavery in Africa and transported across the Atlantic

Roots: The 1977 television adaptation of Alex Haley's novel brought America face to face with its heritage of slavery. Affleck, however, was too embarrassed for his own family's slave-owning heritage to feature

He said: 'It also seems clear from the emails that Gates knew the stakes involved in terms of PBS credibility yet went with the advice from the Sony executive to squelch the factoid about a slave-owning ancestor and try to keep it quiet'.

Mr Getler also revealed that he was told the removal of Affleck's slave-owning history was because of a 'redundancy issue' in that other guests had similar discoveries.

In their statement last week PBS said: 'It is clear from the exchange how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity.

'He has told us that after reviewing approximately ten hours of footage for the episode, he and his producers made an independent editorial judgment to choose the most compelling narrative.'

The station now says it will not comment until its review is complete.

However, the affair has also called into question the future of the show's host, Prof Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Until now he had been a Harvard University academic best known for the 'beer summit' organized by President Obama when a policeman tried to arrest him because of a 911 call about men breaking and entering a home - which was in fact Prof Gates' own home.

The arrest became the center of a debate on racial profiling, and the African-American academic and the policeman were invited to the White House to discuss the arrest and its fallout over a beer.

However today he was described as 'diminished' in the New York Times by Frank Bruni, its columnist, as 'diminished' by the affair which 'exposed Gates, a trusted authority on the African-American experience, to accusations that he'd sold out'.

PBS declined to offer any guarantees that he would remain host of the show. On Friday it issued a statement on his behalf but yesterday said it was not responsible for his public statements.

THE EMAILS WHICH REVEALED BEN AFFLECK'S SHAME AT SLAVERY ROOTS

Gates

By the way, I need your advice: I'm on a flight to L.A. for the TCA Press Tour. We launch season two of Finding Your Roots tomorrow at noon, and four celebrities, including Nas, are showing up. Here's my dilemma: confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors--the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?

Lynton

On the doc the big question is who knows that the material is in the doc and is being taken out. I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky. Again, all things being equal I would definitely take it out.

Gates

All my producers would know; his PR agency the same as mine, and everyone there has been involved trying to resolve this; my agent at CAA knows. And PBS would know. To do this would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman.

Lynton

then it is tricky because it may get out that you made the change and it comes down to editorial integrity. We can talk when you land.

Gates

Will call. It would embarrass him and compromise our integrity. I think he is getting very bad advice. I've offered to fly to Detroit, where he is filming, to talk it through.

Lynton

Yeah,, the past is the past…..

Gates

And he wasn't even a bad guy. We don't demonize him at all. Now Anderson Cooper's ancestor was a real s.o.b.; one of his slaves actually murdered him. Of course, the slave was promptly hanged. And Anderson didn't miss a beat about that. Once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.